Enterprising Individuals
by carmanne
Summary: They're a family, sure, but it's easy to forget sometimes how different they all are. Series of 100ish word prompts about the crew of the Enterprise.


_Eccentric – Montgomery Scott_

"Monty," his mum had asked him when he was old enough to answer but young enough to not mind the diminutive, "what do you plan to make of yourself?"

He had smiled like only a child can and replied with an utter joy in his heart, "a barmaid."

But when that dream died with the closing of the town tavern-- and didn't _that_ raise a fuss with the old fogeys, and the young drunks too-- Scotty managed to tear his eyes away from the beauty of his homeland and the love of his family to the skies, and hasn't looked away since.

_Arrow—Hikaru Sulu_

Hikaru's sister Mitsuko was like a sunbeam, his aged grandmother would say with a pinch to the cheek of her granddaughter, all sunlight and rays splattered throughout her universe.

"Now Hikaru," she would go on, clueless to the fact that her westernized grandchildren were uncomfortable with this display of familial closeness, "you are light, but not scattered-- like an arrow of light."

Hikaru blushed appropriately and put it out of his mind in exchange for knowledge of flight and girls, but he remembered her words the first time he took a ship into warp-- like an arrow of light.

_Principles—Nyota Uhura_

"The particulars," her mother would say with her most stern voice, "are not important, Nyota. They muddy your judgment. Stay with principles-- never cheat, never be anything less than you can make of yourself."

So when James T. Kirk was called to the podium, she thought about all those nights she had poured over texts when the answers could have been bought, all those TAs who she didn't sleep with for a grade boost, all of the parties she had missed for studying—and perhaps it made her less of a person, but she really couldn't must up even a little sympathy.

_Distress—Jim Kirk_

_Severe Emotional Distress _was what they wrote in his file.

What that translated to was three-day benders and waking up in rooms with no memory of how he got there; what that meant for his life was getting money for the next weekend's shenanigans through less than reputable means; what that _was_ was drunken brawls and breaking his way out of the goddamn hospital if they didn't let him out in three days.

"James T. Kirk," one of his more intelligent therapists had asked, "are you afraid to die?"

Jim snorted with laughter. "I've been dying every day of my fucking life_."_

_Smooth—Pavel Chekov _

Pavel watches as the numbers wash over him, smooth and familiar, and waits. He knows that eventually, soon enough, and _there—_that's the number that catches, that hangs rough in the otherwise smooth stream, the number that's causing all the problems.

The school principal doesn't believe him at first, but eventually calls Starfleet, tells them about this little prodigy that figured out the coding problem that may or may not have caused the _USS Commentary _to burn up upon reentering the atmosphere.

They laud Pavel and bring him to San Francisco and talk about his genius, but Pavel cannot bring himself to say the truth, that this is not his doing-- the numbers could never lie to him, never.

_Substantial—Spock_

It is a purely human desire, this need he feels to succeed, to make something substantial of his time in Starfleet. Meditation does not explain the ambition he feels so acutely now despite its absence in his Vulcan upbringing, nor does it heal the wound that so abruptly formed when he left his father's world.

But Spock is a pragmatist at heart, and uses this wholly illogical _disadvantage_ in the best way possible-- he becomes a legend, becomes the first cadet to graduate in three years with honors, becomes the first programmer of the _Kobayashi Maru _who is not a commander or higher in rank.

_Contract—Dr. McCoy_

Joss is the only woman McCoy knows who would go at a divorce proceeding with all the emotional investment of someone involved in a breach of contract hearing.

Which, really, he can concede that that's what their marriage came down to-- breach of contract. He was never there because of other people's sickness, and she wanted him while he was in his health, and he hadn't cherished anything about his wife since she started addressing him as Dr. McCoy.

There was nothing left on Earth for him to hold, so he took to the stars _from this day forward, _he thought bitterly as the shuttlecraft lifted off.

_Raw—Spock Prime_

He can barely believe his own mind when it recognizes the unique signature that is James T. Kirk, warming him through even in that icy cave. But-- his blue eyes _rip _through Spock's defenses, and though so much has changed, Spock appreciates how any incarnation of Jim is able to speak without words; able to communicate _I know you and I have known you and you cannot lie to me, old friend, _without a single word.

The bond, so long cauterized through careful meditation, hard work, and no small amounts of pain, is raw once more.


End file.
